Hidden Dungeon

"That kid got hurt?" Niu Yuanshan's face only showed a flicker of doubt, but his heart tightened sharply.

Han Shuangjiang nodded, realizing she'd found the right angle.

"He had a bit of a scuffle with someone." She began to dig deeper into the topic.

Steward Niu's brow furrowed at this, and he pressed immediately: "Then how bad is the injury?"

The cold-faced girl replied with a serious expression: "I'm not sure. He wouldn't let me see it. He seems like the type to tough things out."

She used a bit of wordplay—half-truth, half-lie.

From an outsider's perspective, the final stance of that Eight Trigrams Palm move from Liu Chengqi—whose name she'd already forgotten—had come roaring in, looking anything but ordinary.

But Chu Huai Xu?

After taking half the palm strike, he hadn't even let out a grunt.

—It actually came off as pretty manly.

Once he realized they might be in trouble, his thinking was clear, and he made quick decisions.

Most importantly, whether in front of Liu Chengqi or now, he was always standing in front of Han Shuangjiang.

As if no matter what happened, he'd hold it together.

In a situation fraught with danger, that Fox Face still had the nerve to crack a grin, never adding to the pressure.

A man who, when trouble hits, has the ability to handle it, the means, and the mindset—that's a really captivating trait.

And that trait works on both men and women.

Given her life experiences, Han Shuangjiang was bound to be someone lacking a sense of security.

Though her contact with Chu Huai Xu had been brief, she inexplicably felt a steady reassurance.

So, since he was taking the lead on shouldering the burden, she had to make sure her backup work was solid.

Having come from a brothel, how could she be some naive sweetheart?

Wordplay was exactly the kind of lesson she'd had to learn.

Sure enough, Niu Yuanshan's brow furrowed even deeper.

"Which damn bastard dares to lay a hand on someone from our organization?" Rage was already kindling in his heart.

Staring at that jar of Erlang Wine from the Moon Kingdom on the table, his fury only grew.

But Niu Yuanshan still needed a reason.

After all, he was a Golden Mask in the organization. That golden mask meant he was a core member—highly valued!

He knew this newcomer, Chu Huai Xu, was a strange one, seemingly good at taking unconventional paths and acting flashy.

He wasn't like the rest of them, sticking to low-key lurking.

But he'd just joined the outer sect, and already there was a private fight. He felt he needed to understand the situation better.

Steward Niu didn't let too much anger show on his face, and his words came out measured: "You two were brought here by the Sixth Elder, so I imagine he wants me to look out for you a bit."

"Shuangjiang, lay it all out. What exactly happened?"

"Alright," Han Shuangjiang said.

Inside the Bamboo House, Chu Huai Xu untied his robe and checked his injury.

"Not bad. No big deal."

The short blade, stained with blood, was re-hung at his waist.

He'd just skimmed some mission details, and based on the system's description, he realized he'd really stepped in it this time.

"The Mission System rates mission difficulty based on a bunch of comprehensive info."

"The levels are divided into four grades: Class A, Class B, Class C, and Class D."

"A Class A mission is the highest level."

"In other words, according to the system's judgment, this Liu Chengqi is someone a player can't afford to mess with in the newbie phase!"

What's more outrageous is that this passive mission is called Liu Chengqi's Revenge, and the mission objective is literally just "don't die," and it counts as complete.

"Damn it, he's coming to beat me to death!" Chu Huai Xu was speechless.

Don't get beaten to death, and the mission's done—what the hell kind of background does this bastard Liu Chengqi have?

"And the mission requirement is just 'don't get beaten to death,' yet it's still marked as a Class A difficulty system."

"Isn't that basically the system telling me it's hard for me not to get beaten to death!"

This is seriously unfriendly to me, a transmigrator.

No help for it. For a sandbox player, it's just a mission failure and wasting one Revival Coin.

Chu Huai Xu also had 3 Revival Coins, but he wasn't sure if he could actually revive, and he didn't want to take that risk.

"The mission reward is pretty generous, though—a full 1000 Experience Points."

For a player in the newbie phase, that's a high reward, enough to level him up several times.

Besides that, Chu Huai Xu's gaze was deeply drawn to a line of text.

"There is a certain probability of triggering a hidden dungeon."

That was what he cared about most!

Hidden dungeons—those were terms from the system and players. In the Xuanhuang Realm, people generally called them encounters! Opportunities!

This sent Chu Huai Xu into deep thought.

"A hidden dungeon?"

He carefully recalled, suddenly remembering something, wondering if it might be related to this hidden dungeon.

"I threw an Information Scan at Liu Chengqi earlier to see how capable he was."

"The system feedback said he's currently in a state of damaged spirit embryo."

"Could it be about the spirit embryo?"

This kind of hidden dungeon with a probability trigger was the most infuriating.

Because it meant even if you completed the task perfectly, you might not trigger it.

There were too many coincidences and twists of fate involved.

It purely relied on the player to dig and explore on their own, or just take a gamble.

When he first encountered this situation while playing "Borrowed Sword," his heart was burning with excitement.

But after one failed trigger after another, he gradually took it lightly, his mindset settling into calm.

Best if it triggers; if not, so be it.

Soon, a voice rang out from outside the house.

"Chu Huai Xu, Han Shuangjiang, where are you! Come out and see me!"

Chu Huai Xu had no intention of fleeing. He directly opened the door and saw three men in black robes standing outside the Bamboo House.

The leader was about 1.75 meters tall, looking somewhat like Liu Chengqi, with a coiled whip at his waist and lightning-like embroidery on the chest of his black robe.

"Enforcement Team?" Chu Huai Xu narrowed his eyes.

A state has its laws, a sect has its rules.

The Enforcement Team existed for that reason.

One of the harsher punishments in the Dao Sect was flogging.

"What kind of Singapore-style rules," Chu Huai Xu said to himself, eyeing the long whip at his waist.

As far as he knew, the outer sect used ordinary whips, but the inner sect was different.

See the lightning embroidered on their chests?

The inner sect used the Lightning Whip.

Some Dao Sect players who loved being whipped would deliberately stir up trouble, just to get their fix.

With pain turned down low, it wasn't too painful and came with electricity—super thrilling, enough to make you lose control.

Chu Huai Xu's gaze sharpened slightly, but he had actually considered that official forces might show up.

"How should I address you senior brothers?" he asked.

He had already thrown an Information Scan, and three question marks popped up, meaning the other party's Character Level was at least 10 levels higher than his—they were genuine cultivators.

"Liu Chenggong, Deputy Captain of the Medicine Mountain Enforcement Team," the leader replied.

Hearing that name, Chu Huai Xu felt sure this guy and Liu Chengqi were on the same page in the Liu family genealogy.

Both from the same generation, right?

"May I ask what business Captain Liu has with me?" he began to play dumb.

"You stirred up trouble on Medicine Mountain, engaged in unauthorized private fights, violating sect rules. After injuring someone, you also robbed them of their belongings—adding crime upon crime!"

"Junior Brother Chu, come with us!"